Electronic arcade game

ABSTRACT

An electronic game wherein a participant, using a joystick to control the movement of an indicia of player position on a video display, attempts to keep his indicia of player position between two moving and encroaching end zones longer than other participants.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of electronic games.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The roots of the amusement park industry go back to medieval Europe when pleasure gardens began to spring up on the outskirts of major European cities. These gardens were a forerunner of today's amusement parks, featuring live entertainment, fireworks, dancing, games, and even primitive amusement rides. Pleasure gardens remained extremely popular until the 1700's, when political unrest caused many of these parks to close. However, one of these parks remains: Bakken, north of Copenhagen, which opened in 1583 and now enjoys the status of the world's oldest operating amusement park.

In the late 1800s, the growth of the industry shifted to America. Following the American Civil War, increased urbanization gave rise to electric traction (trolley) companies. At that time, utility companies charged the trolley companies a flat fee for the use of their electricity. As a result, the transportation companies looked for a way to stimulate weekend ridership. This resulted in the amusement park. Typically built at the end of the trolley line, amusement parks initially were simple operations consisting of picnic facilities, dance halls, restaurants, games, and a few amusement rides often located on the shores of a lake or river. These parks were immediately successful and soon opened across America.

The amusement park entered its golden era with the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This World's Fair introduced the Ferris wheel and the amusement midway to the world. The midway, with its wide array of rides and concessions, was a huge success and dictated amusement park design for the next sixty years. The following year, Capt. Paul Boyton borrowed the midway concept and opened the world's first modern amusement park—Paul Boyton's Water Chutes on Chicago's South side. Unlike the primitive trolley parks, the Water Chutes was the first amusement park to charge admission and use rides as its main draw rather than picnic facilities or a lake. The success of his Chicago park inspired him to open a similar facility at the fledgling Coney Island resort in New York in 1895.

The amusement park industry grew tremendously over the next three decades. The center of the industry was Coney Island in New York, which at its peak was home to three of America's most elaborate amusement parks along with dozens of smaller attractions. Around the world, hundreds of new amusement parks opened, while many early trolley parks expanded by adding new rides and attractions. New innovations provided greater and more intense thrills to the growing crowds. By 1919, over 1,500 amusement parks were in operation in the United States. Unfortunately, this glory did not last.

In 1929, America entered the Depression, and by 1935 only 400 amusement parks still remained; many struggling to survive. World War II further hurt the industry, when many parks closed and others refrained from adding new attractions due to rationing.

With the end of World War II, America and the amusement park industry enjoyed post war prosperity. Attendance and revenues grew to new records as new parks opened across America. A new concept, the Kiddieland, took advantage of the post-war baby boom, introducing a new generation to the joys of the amusement park in the rapidly growing suburbs. Unfortunately, this resurgence was short lived.

As the 1950's dawned, television, urban decay, desegregation, and suburban growth began to take a heavy toll on the aging, urban amusement park. The industry was again in distress as the public turned elsewhere for entertainment. What was needed was a new concept and that new concept was DISNEYLAND.

When DISNEYLAND first opened in 1955, many people were skeptical that an amusement park without any of the traditional attractions would succeed. But DISNEYLAND was different. Instead of a midway, DISNEYLAND offered five distinct themed areas, providing “guests” with the fantasy of travel to different lands and times. DISNEYLAND was an immediate success, and as a result, the theme park era was born.

Over the next several years, there were many unsuccessful attempts to copy DlSNEYLAND's success. It wasn't until 1961, when SIX FLAGS Over Texas opened, that another theme park was successful. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, theme parks were built in many major cities across America. Unfortunately, while theme parks were opening across the country, many of the grand old traditional amusement parks continued to close in the face of increased competition and urban decay. However, some of the traditional parks were able to thrive during the theme park era because the renewed interest in amusement parks brought people back to their local park. In addition, many older traditional parks were able to borrow ideas from theme parks and introduce new rides and attractions to their long-time patrons.

As the 1980's dawned, the theme park boom began spreading around the world. Meanwhile, theme park growth slowed considerably in the United States due to escalating costs and a lack of markets large enough to support a theme park.

Today the amusement park remains an international favorite. Many developing nations are experiencing the joys of the amusement park for the first time, while the older, more established amusement parks continue to search for new and different ways to keep their customers happy.

One way that amusement parks keep their guests happy is by offering a variety of different games for them to play. Oftentimes the games are devised so as to pit the skill of one guest against others, thereby allowing the guests to experience the thrill of competition, the joy of winning and also, the agony of defeat. Games such as these have found their place in theme parks, traveling fairs, carnivals, and strip malls.

It is a goal of the present invention to produce a relatively simple group game that may be installed on a trailer so as to be transportable which requires minimal set-up and does not require a water supply to play.

In view of the present disclosure or through practice of the present invention, other advantages may become apparent.

In general terms, the present invention includes an electronic game wherein a participant, using a joystick to control the movement of an indicia of player position on a video display, attempts to keep his indicia of player position between two moving and encroaching end zones longer than other participants. The video display may present a generally linear field of play. In one exemplary embodiment, the field of play is vertically disposed so as to have a top edge and a bottom edge. A first end zone extends upwardly from the bottom edge, while the second end zone extends downwardly from the top edge. Between the two end zones is a safe zone in which the indicia of player position is “safe”. When gameplay begins, the two end zones move and grow such that the position of the safe zone is varied along the field of play and that the size of the safe zone is diminished. During this period, the participant keeps his indicia of player position in the safe zone as long as possible by interacting with the joystick. The winner of the game is the participant who can keep his indicia of player position in the safe zone the longest.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a participant station in accordance with one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates the field of play at the beginning of a game in accordance with one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates the field of play during play of a game in accordance with one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates the field of play when a participant's game has ended due to contacting an end zone in accordance with one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows a portable trailer having multiple participant stations in accordance with one exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of the sequence of play of one exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT(S)

FIG. 1 depicts a participant station 10 comprising a video display 12, player interface 14, and walkway 16. In one exemplary embodiment, video display 12 is an LCD display. In another exemplary embodiment, video display 12 is an LED display. In one exemplary embodiment, player interface 14 is a joystick. In alternative embodiments, the player interface may comprise buttons or a trackball. Walkway 16 allows the owner/operator of the game to walk in front of the video displays thereby allowing the owner/operator to interact with each participant before and after the game (e.g., to collect fees for playing or for delivering prizes for winning).

A suitable joystick for use with the present invention is a 3 position joystick produced by Happ Controls in Elk Grove, Ill.

A suitable processor is the BSR2400 module produced by Bob's Space Racers in Daytona Beach, Fla.

A suitable video display for use with the present invention is a bicolor LED display produced by American Opto Plus LED Corp. in Pomona, Calif.

The video display of the present invention is in electrical communication with the processor via a standard 10 pin ribbon cable.

A suitable power supply for use with the present invention is a 12 volt power supply produced by Phihung Enterprise Co. Ltd. of Taipei, Taiwan.

FIG. 2 illustrates the field of play 20 shown on video display 12 for a participant. The field of play 20 comprises a first end zone 22 a, a second end zone 22 b, a safe zone 24, and indicia of player position 26. The object of the game is for the participant to react to the movement of end zones 22 a and 22 b by keeping his indicia of player position 26 in safe zone 24 using the player interface.

FIG. 3 illustrate field of play 20 during game play. As can be appreciated, end zones 22 a and 22 b have moved relative to their position as shown in FIG. 2 so as to reduce the size of safe zone 24. So long as the participant maintains indicia of player position 26 within safe zone 24 game play continues.

FIG. 4 illustrates field of play 20 at the conclusion of a participant's game when indicia of player position 26 contacts one of the end zones (22a in this depiction).

In one exemplary embodiment, a plurality of participant stations are linked together such that a respective number of participants may compete against one another.

In another exemplary embodiment, it is not necessary for each participant station to be occupied by a participant in order to compete.

In one exemplary embodiment, a single processor may control the game for each participant such that they all experience the same movement(s) by the end zones. In an alternative embodiment, a single processor may control the movement of the end zones for each participant such that no two participants experience the same end zone movements.

In another exemplary embodiment, each participant station may have its own processor running the game.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, each participant station may have its own processor which is in electrical communication with a central processor for coordinating game play and determining the winner.

In those embodiments where multiple processors are employed, the processors may be in electrical communication with one another such that a winner may be determined.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, an interface in electrical communication with one or more processors allows the owner/operator to adjust various parameters of the game and/or perform diagnostic testing of the components of the participant stations. One example of a suitable interface is a touch screen LCD display.

In one exemplary embodiment, the parameters of the game such as the speed at which the end zones move from one location to another location, the duration the end zones occupy a location, the initial distance between the end zones, and the rate at which the these parameters accelerate may be adjusted through an interface with the processor(s). In this manner, the owner/operator may adjust game play to suit market demands.

FIG. 5 shows a portable game trailer 30 having three pairs of wheels 32 and hitch coupler 34. The portable game trailer 30 has disposed thereon eight participant stations. Each participant station has a video display 12 and player interface 14. In this configuration, up to eight participants can compete against one another—however, each participant station needn't be filled in order to play the game depending upon the preferences of the owner/operator.

In one exemplary embodiment, portable game trailer 30 additionally comprises a generator 36 for supplying electricity to the participant stations. A suitable generator is manufactured by Honda under model number EU3000is.

In view of the present disclosure or through practice of the present invention, it will be within the ability of one of ordinary skill to make modifications to the present invention, such as through the use of equivalent arrangements and compositions, in order to practice the invention without departing from the spirit of the invention as reflected in the appended claims. 

1. A method of playing an electronic game, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of player stations, each player station comprising at least one player interface and at least one video display, said at least one video display adapted to present at least one field of play, said at least one field of play comprising an indicia of player position, at least one end zone, and at least one safe zone; (b) initiating a game, said game adapted to allow a plurality of players to compete simultaneously at a portion of said plurality of player stations; (c) eliminating at least one player as a result of said player's indicia of player position contacting said at least one end zone; and repeating step (c) until a final player is eliminated as a result of said final player's indicia of player position contacting one of said end zones, thereby identifying a winner.
 2. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 1 wherein said field of play is linear.
 3. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 1 wherein at least one video display is an LED display.
 4. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 1 wherein said player interface is a joystick.
 5. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 1 further comprising: adjusting said at least one end zone on each said field of play so as to randomly vary the size and position of each said safe zone.
 6. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 5 further comprising: moving said indicia of player position by manipulating said user interface.
 7. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 6 further comprising: adjusting each at least one end zone of said plurality of player stations identically.
 8. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 6 further comprising: adjusting each at least one end zone of said plurality of player stations individually.
 9. An electronic game comprising: a plurality of player stations, each player station comprising: a player interface; and a video display, said video display adapted to present a field of play, said field of play comprising a first end zone, a second end zone, a safe zone and an indicia of player position; wherein said indicia of player position is controllable by said player interface; wherein said first end zone and said second end zone are movable and expandable so that said safe zone reduces in size; wherein said game may determine a winner between at least two simultaneously competing participants by determining a last indicia of player position remaining in said safe zone.
 10. The electronic game of claim 9 wherein said video display is separated from said player interface by a walkway of sufficient size so as to allow a person to walk therebetween.
 11. A method of playing an electronic game, comprising the steps of: (a) providing multiple player stations, each player station comprising a player interface and a video display, said video display adapted to present a field of play at each player station, said field of play comprising a first end zone, a second end zone, an indicia of player position, and a safe zone disposed between said first end zone and said second end zone; (b) initiating a game, said game adapted to allow a plurality of players to compete simultaneously at said multiple player stations; (c) adjusting said first and second end zones on each said field of play so as to randomly vary the size and position of each said safe zone; (d) adjusting the position of each said indicia of player position on each said field of play in response to movement of each said player interface; (e) eliminating at least one player as a result of said player's indicia of player position contacting one of said first and second end zones; and repeating steps (c)-(e) until a final player is eliminated as a result of said final player's indicia of player position contacting one of said first and second end zones, thereby identifying a winner.
 12. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 11 wherein each said video display is an LED display.
 13. The method of playing an electronic game of claim 11 wherein each said player interface is a joystick. 